TABLE 3.

Calculated Pearson coefficients (r^b_m+1) for the correlation between the VOC concentrations detected on the basis of the protonated masses (m+1) and the numbers of the different groups of bacteria in air- and vacuum-packaged beef and pork stored over 11 days at 4°C^a

m+1 (amu)	Meat	Packaging	Correlation coefficient between VOC concentrations and bacterial counts for:
			Aerobic bacteria	Pseudomonas spp.	Enterobacteriaceae	Lactic acid bacteria	Enterococcus spp.	Other
33	Beef	Air	0.89**	0.81**	0.82**	0.47**	0.60**	0.02
49	Beef	Air	0.80**	0.86**	0.76**	0.20	0.46**	−0.28
57	Beef	Air	0.69**	0.73**	0.66**	0.58**	0.57**	−0.22
63	Beef	Air	0.95**	0.94**	0.94**	0.29	0.56**	−0.18
91	Beef	Air	0.85**	0.92**	0.93**	0.21	0.56**	−0.34*
93	Beef	Air	0.85**	0.90**	0.82**	0.32	0.55**	−0.27
95	Beef	Air	0.76**	0.84**	0.77**	0.19	0.37*	−0.32
113	Beef	Air	0.89**	0.93**	0.84**	0.41*	0.60**	−0.24
127	Beef	Air	0.82**	0.91**	0.80**	0.24	0.48**	−0.34*
129	Beef	Air	0.90**	0.90**	0.78**	0.49**	0.69**	−0.13
131	Beef	Air	0.88**	0.86**	0.74**	0.40*	0.66**	−0.09
143	Beef	Air	0.81**	0.89**	0.77**	0.38*	0.58**	−0.33
33	Pork	Air	0.88**	0.84**	0.87**	−0.12	0.71**	0.57**
63	Pork	Air	0.67**	0.62**	0.94**	−0.23	0.70**	0.49**
91	Pork	Air	0.61**	0.57**	0.88**	−0.20	0.59**	0.44*
95	Pork	Air	0.51**	0.43**	0.86**	−0.20	0.59**	0.46**
127	Pork	Air	0.79**	0.76**	0.86**	−0.18	0.72**	0.52**
47	Beef	Vacuum	0.60**	0.54**	0.31	0.72**	0.69**	−0.21
49	Beef	Vacuum	0.69**	0.66**	0.43*	0.73**	0.70**	−0.18
91	Beef	Vacuum	0.83**	0.64**	0.54**	0.66**	0.66**	−0.04

^a∗, P < 0.05; ∗∗, P < 0.01 (n = 36).